encyclopediafandomcom-20200222-history
Johnny B. Goode
"Johnny B. Goode" is a 1958 rock and roll song written and originally performed by Chuck Berry. The song was a major hit among both black and white audiences peaking at #2 on Billboard magazine's Hot R&B Sides chart and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.1 The song is one of Berry's most famous recordings, has been covered by many artists, and has received several honors and accolades. It is also considered to be one of the most recognizable songs in music history. The song is ranked as number seven on Rolling Stone's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"2 Composition and recording Written by Berry in 1955, the song is about a poor country boy who plays a guitar "just like ringing a bell," and who might one day have his "name in lights."3 Berry has acknowledged that the song is partly autobiographical, and originally had "colored boy" in the lyrics, but he changed it to "country boy" to ensure radio play.4 As well as suggesting that the guitar player is good, the title hints at autobiographic elements because Berry was born at 2520 Goode Avenue in St. Louis.3 The song was initially inspired by Berry's piano player, Johnnie Johnson,56 though developed into a song mainly about Berry himself. Though Johnnie Johnson played on many other Chuck Berry songs, it was Lafayette Leake who played piano on this song.3 The opening guitar riff on "Johnny B. Goode" is essentially a note-for-note copy of the opening single-note solo on Louis Jordan's "Ain't That Just Like a Woman" (1946), played by guitarist Carl Hogan.7 Neither the guitar intro nor the solo are played at once. Chuck Berry played the introducing parts together with the rhythm guitar and overdubbed later the missing solo runs.8 Berry has written thirty more songs involving the character Johnny B. Goode, "Bye Bye Johnny", "Go Go Go", and "Johnny B. Blues"; and titled an album, and the nearly 19 min instrumental title track from it, as "Concerto in B. Goode". Musicians Chuck Berry – vocals, lead guitar3 Lafayette Leake – piano3 Willie Dixon – bass3 Fred Below – drums3 Legacy Berry's recording of the song was included on the Voyager Golden Record, attached to the Voyager spacecraft as representing rock and roll, one of four American songs included among many cultural achievements of humanity. When Chuck Berry was inducted into the first Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 23, 1986, he performed "Johnny B. Goode" and "Rock and Roll Music", backed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.9 The Hall of Fame included these songs and "Maybellene" in their list of the 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll.10 It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, for its influence as a rock and roll single.11 In the 1984 film Threads, the song is heard three times. The first time is when core characters Ruth Beckett and Jimmy Kemp discuss the future of their relationship before the outbreak of nuclear war, in his car overlooking Sheffield. The second time is when Jimmy is at a pub, drinking with his mate. The last time is fourteen years after the nuclear holocaust, as Ruth and Jimmy's daughter Jane, heavily pregnant, struggles to find a hospital in which to give birth. The song seems to be emanating from a nightclub, pub or brothel within the devastated post-apocalyptic town. In the 1985 film Back to the Future, Marty McFly performs the song with the fictional band Marvin Berry and the Starlighters during the "Enchantment Under the Sea" high school dance, set in November 1955.12 Mark Campbell (of Jack Mack and the Heart Attack fame) sang the vocals and Tim May played the guitar, with Michael J. Fox shown miming to both. This scene was revisited in Back to the Future Part II (1989). During Marty's rendition of the song, Marvin telephones his cousin Chuck, to have him hear what might be the "new sound" Chuck is looking for. During his time in World Championship Wrestling, Marc Mero wrestled under the ring name Johnny B. Badd, an homage to the song. This song plays whenever Calgary Flames player Johnny Gaudreau scores, as well as Tampa Bay Lightning's Tyler Johnson. Accolades List Publisher Rank Year of publication 500 Greatest Songs of All Time Rolling Stone 7 2010 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Q 42 2005 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time Rolling Stone 1 2008 Top 3000 Songs Acclaimed Music 6 N/A 500 Songs That Shaped Rock Rock & Roll Hall of Fame N/A 1995 50 Greatest Guitar Solos Guitar World 12 2009 Cover versions Cover versions that charted "Johnny Be Good" Single by Judas Priest from the album Ram It Down B-side "Rock You All Around the World" (live) Released 1988 Format 7" 45 RPM, 12" maxi Recorded 1987 Genre Heavy metal Length 4:36 Label Columbia Writer(s) Chuck Berry Producer(s) Tom Allom, Glenn Tipton, K. K. Downing, Rob Halford Judas Priest singles chronology "Ram It Down/Heavy Metal" (1988) "Johnny Be Good" (1988) "Painkiller" (1990) Country musician Buck Owens' version of "Johnny B. Goode" topped Billboard magazine's Hot Country Sides chart in 1969.13 Jimi Hendrix had a posthumous hit with "Johnny B. Goode" peaking at #35 on the UK Singles Chart in 197214 and #13 on the New Zealand Top 50 in 1986.15 Peter Tosh's version of the song peaked at #84 on the Billboard Hot 100,16 #48 on the UK Singles Chart,17 #10 in the Netherlands, and #29 in New Zealand.18 Judas Priest's version reached #64 on the UK Singles Chart in 1988.14 Additional cover versions The list of performers includes: This article contains embedded lists that may be poorly defined, unverified or indiscriminate. Please help to clean it up to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Where appropriate, incorporate items into the main body of the article. (February 2016) This article may contain excessive, poor, or irrelevant examples. Please improve the article by adding more descriptive text and removing less pertinent examples. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for further suggestions. (February 2016) This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2016) AC/DC Aerosmith Adam Ant Al Hurricane Alvin and the Chipmunks Azra (Đoni, budi dobar) Bad Religion The Beach Boys The Beatles Big Tom and The Mainliners Bon Jovi Bravo Marc Broussard Roy Buchanan Burning Andrés Calamaro Carpenters Cidade Negra The Coasters John Denver Danny Gatton Dion Celine Dion Dr. Feelgood Johnny Dowd Earthlings? John Farnham Five Iron Frenzy Freddie & the Dreamers Rory Gallagher The Grateful Dead Green Day The Guess Who Bill Haley & His Comets Johnny Hallyday Hanson Jimi Hendrix Will Hoge Buddy Holly Tomoyasu Hotei Jay and the Americans Jim & Jesse Elton John Judas Priest B.B. King King Lizard Al Kooper Jonny Lang Julian Lennon Jerry Lee Lewis Legion of Mary Living Colour LL Cool J (sampled in "Go Cut Creator Go") Los Suaves Lynyrd Skynyrd Johnny Maestro & the Brooklyn Bridge, a concert duet with Suzi Quatro in Germany in 2006 Phillip Magee Frank Marino John Mayer Trio Meat Loaf Eddie Meduza MF Doom Micky Dolenz Mina Mister Twister NOFX NRBQ Off Kilter Operation Ivy Buck Owens Partibrejkers (Stoj, Džoni) Wes Paul Phish Pink Fairies Elvis Presley Prince Ratdog Cliff Richard Johnny Rivers The Rolling Stones Shogo Sakai (Mother 3 as "New Age Retro Hippie") Carlos Santana Bon Scott (with Cheap Trick) Sex Pistols The Shadows Skrewdriver Slade Space Spirit Slaughter & The Dogs Status Quo The Stimulators Stray Cats Keiichi Suzuki (EarthBound titled as "New Age Retro Hippie") Hirokazu Tanaka (EarthBound titled as "New Age Retro Hippie") George Thorogood The Toasters TISM ("Johnny to B. or Not to B. Goode") The Tornadoes Peter Tosh Twisted Sister Conway Twitty Nobuo Uematsu The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain Ultraje a Rigor Uncle Tupelo Roch Voisine The Routers The Who James Gang Brian Wilson Johnny Winter Other songs Leo Sayer included a song called "The Last Gig of Johnny B. Goode" on his 1975 album, Another Year, about a fallen rock star. References 1.Jump up ^ "Charts & Awards: Chuck Berry – Billboard Singles". AllMusic. United States: Rovi Corporation. Retrieved February 1, 2011. 2.Jump up ^ "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time". Rolling Stone. April 2010. Retrieved September 18, 2015. 3.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Taylor, Timothy D. (2000). "Chapter 7 – His Name was in Lights: Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode'". In Middleton, Richard. Reading Pop: Approaches to Textual Analysis in Popular Music. Oxford University Press. pp. 165–167, 177. ISBN 0-19-816611-7. 4.Jump up ^ "Johnny B. Goode : Rolling Stone". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2010. 5.Jump up ^ "Johnnie Johnson". Blues Music Now. Retrieved February 21, 2010. 6.Jump up ^ Ratliff, Ben (April 14, 2005). "Johnnie Johnson, 80, Dies; Inspired 'Johnny B. Goode'". The New York Times. Retrieved February 21, 2010. 7.Jump up ^ Miller, James (1999). Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947-1977. Simon & Schuster, 104. ISBN 0-684-80873-0. 8.Jump up ^ http://www.crlf.de/ChuckBerry/blog/archives/118-Johnny-B.-Goode-take-3-isnt-I-mean-take-3.html 9.Jump up ^ Barker, Derek (2009). Liner notes to Bruce Springsteen's Jukebox: The Songs that Inspired the Man CD. Chrome Dreams. 10.Jump up ^ "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll by Artists (A-C)". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on February 1, 2011. 11.Jump up ^ "Grammy Hall of Fame – Past Recipients (Letter J)". The Grammy Awards. United States: National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved February 1, 2011. 12.Jump up ^ "Chuck Berry Johnny B Goode". Blues Guitar Expert. 2015-02-26. Retrieved 2015-07-14. 13.Jump up ^ "Charts & Awards: Buck Owens – Billboard Singles". Allmusic. United States: Rovi Corporation. Retrieved February 1, 2011. 14.^ Jump up to: a b "Johnny B. Goode - Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 January 2016. 15.Jump up ^ ""Johnny B. Goode" by Jimi Hendrix" (ASP). New Zealand Top 50 Singles. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 1, 2011. 16.Jump up ^ "Charts & Awards: Peter Tosh – Billboard Singles". Allmusic. United States: Rovi Corporation. Retrieved February 1, 2011. 17.Jump up ^ "Peter Tosh - Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 January 2016. 18.Jump up ^ ""Johnny B. Goode" by Peter Tosh" (ASP). australian-charts. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 1, 2011. Preceded by "I Love You More Today" by Conway Twitty Billboard Hot Country Singles number-one single (Buck Owens and the Buckaroos version) July 26 – August 2, 1969 Category:1958 songs Category:1958 singles Category:1962 singles Category:1969 singles Category:1972 singles Category:1979 singles Category:1988 singles Category:Songs written by Chuck Berry Category:Chuck Berry songs Category:AC/DC songs Category:Buck Owens songs Category:Jimi Hendrix songs Category:The Beach Boys songs Category:Judas Priest songs Category:The Guess Who songs Category:Billboard Hot Country Songs number-one singles Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Category:Chess Records singles Category:Recorded music characters Category:Songs about music Category:Songs about New Orleans